Ray Castillo

Headquarters, Washington, DC September 30, 1998

(Phone: 202/358-4555)

RELEASE: 98-174

NASA TURNS 40 ON THURSDAY

"An Act to provide for research into the problems of flight

within and outside the Earth's atmosphere, and for other purposes"
-- with this simple preamble, the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA) was created on October 1, 1958.

On Thursday, October 1, at 2 pm EDT, Administrator Daniel

Goldin will kick off NASA's celebration with an address to all
employees from the NASA Headquarters auditorium. He will be
joined by Susan Eisenhower, President of Eisenhower Inc. and a
visiting fellow at Harvard University, who will provide NASA
employees with an historical context within which to consider
their many accomplishments. The Headquarters 40th anniversary
program will be carried live on NASA Television. (NASA Television
is available on GE-2, transponder 9C.)

NASA will continue to celebrate its 40th anniversary

throughout the year by looking toward the future with its various
missions. On October 25, the Deep Space 1 mission will be
launched to demonstrate the first ion propulsion engine to operate
in deep space.

On October 29, NASA will nod to the past when Senator John
Glenn joins the rest of the STS-95 crew aboard Space Shuttle
Discovery. In November and December, the first components of the
International Space Station will be launched from Baikonur,
Kazahkstan, and Kennedy Space Center, Florida, beginning a new era
in long-term human space exploration.

NASA will return to Mars with the launches of the Mars

Climate Orbiter in December 1998 and the Mars Polar Lander in
January 1999. Also, early in 1999, NASA will continue its
commitment to cutting-edge astronomy by launching the Advanced X-
ray Astrophysics Facility.

Not content with looking only outward, NASA will turn its
vision to our own planet with the launch of the QuikScat satellite
on November 24, a "faster, better, cheaper" mission that will
study ocean winds and add to our knowledge of El Nino. The EOS-
AM-1 satellite, scheduled for launch in the summer of 1999, will
be the first of a new constellation of Earth Observing Satellites.

NASA will also continue its ground-breaking aeronautics

research by testing new propulsion technology with the Hyper-X
program. Looking toward the next 40 years, the
X-33 and X-34 programs will begin flight demonstration tests in
mid-1999 that will lead to the next generation space launch
vehicle.

Since its inception in 1958, NASA has accomplished many great

scientific and technological feats. At its 40th anniversary,
NASA remains a leading force in scientific research and continues
to stimulate public interest in aeronautics and aerospace
exploration, science, and technology. Perhaps more importantly,
NASA's exploration of space has taught humankind to view the Earth
and the universe in a new way.

More information on NASA's future programs can be found on

the NASA Homepage: http://www.nasa.gov/

For further information on NASA's origins and

accomplishments, browse through the 40th anniversary page:
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/40thann/40home.htm

- end -